China's Shenzhou-18 astronauts ready to return after in-orbit crew handover

The Shenzhou-18 astronauts transferred control of the Tiangong space station to the newly arrived Shenzhou-19 crew on Friday as they prepared to return to Earth.

The Shenzhou-19 crew - Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze - successfully reached their destination and joined their Shenzhou-18 colleagues on Wednesday after the spaceship completed a rapid automated rendezvous and docking with the space station's core module, Tianhe.

On Friday, the two crews held a handover ceremony in the core module. The Shenzhou-18 astronauts - Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu - passed the key to the new trio and signed confirmation documents together.

"Today, we pass the space station key to you as a relay baton. We trust that you will make our space home even better,” said Ye Guangfu, mission commander of the Shenzhou-18 crew.

"Please rest assured that we will take good care of it," said Cai Xuzhe, mission commander of the Shenzhou-19 crew.

Having completed all assigned tasks during their six-month stay, the Shenzhou-18 crew is set to depart for Earth aboard the Shenzhou-18 spaceship on Monday.

The Dongfeng Landing Site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is preparing to welcome the astronauts back home.

A wild giant panda was captured on infrared cameras strolling through forests in the Sichuan section of the Giant Panda National Park, located in Pingwu County, Mianyang City, southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The footage, recorded on Sunday, shows a round-bodied wild giant panda wandering leisurely through the forest, stopping occasionally to rest. According to park staff, this is an adult giant panda in robust health.

Pingwu County in northern Sichuan is famous for being home to a large number of wild giant pandas. The fourth national survey of giant pandas in 2015 found that there were 1,864 wild giant pandas in China, including 335 in Pingwu.

As a result, over half of Pingwu's land area has been designated as part of the Giant Panda National Park, which has a planned area of 22,000 square kilometers across Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.